More Posts By Peter
Review: Annihilation – Jeff Vandermeer
A biologist is part of the 12th mission to discover the secrets of the mysterious Area X, an abandoned and poorly documented zone now overtaken by wilderness. From the moment she wakes up from the trance necessary to cross the mysterious border, the seemingly tranquil Area X feels oppressive. Tension between the mission member rise as they discover an unmapped feature: an underground structure with mysterious writing on the wall…
Review: Spiderlight – Adrian Tchaikovsky
A group of adventurers sets out to defeat the Dark Lord – meticulously following each of the steps foretold by the prophecy. The adventurers’ relationships are tested and their faith in the Light is challenged when their quest requires them to welcome a new member into their party. A creature of the Dark, transformed, bound to help them – but a creature of the Dark nonetheless. But if Darkness helps to fight Darkness, and the Light does not always shine so bright – where does that leave the quest, and what does the ever-lasting war between Light and Dark mean?
Review: The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
Nobody Owens, Bod for short, orphaned as a toddler, grows up in a graveyard, raised by the dead in a cosy mausoleum. His vampire guardian brings him food, teaches him, and protects him from any threats from the world of the living. Though the world outside the graveyard is foreign and odd to Bod, as Bod grows up and makes friends, his urge to learn what is out there becomes difficult to resist. But he was not orphaned without motive, and he lives with the dead in the graveyard for a very good reason…
Review: A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller Jr.
A collection of three short stories set in a post-apocalyptic world, A Canticle for Leibowitz follows the story of the abbey of the Albertian order of Leibowitz. The monks of the order are the guardians of a collection of pre-war scientific texts that their patron saint Leibowitz saved from the chaos and anger following the so called flame deluge. As time progresses, society is rebuilt, the scientific texts are again understood, and humanity falls into old patterns.
Review: Moon – Duncan Jones
Sam Bell is nearing the end of his three-year contract as the single crew member of a mining base on the dark side of the moon. Due to an outage in the communications equipment, he has been unable to contact either his family or his employers live. With only an AI assistant for company, he feels like he is slowly going insane from loneliness. When his lunar rover crashes, however, things take a turn for the worse.
Review: Master of the Revels – Nicole Galland
After their falling out with the powers that be at D.O.D.O., our protagonists set up an independent diachronic operation with the help of the mysterious Fugger banking family – and soon find themselves embroiled in a deadly conflict with the witch Gráinne to save the world’s technology from being retconned out of existence.
Review: Castle in the Air – Diana Wynne Jones
Abdullah lives a simple life selling carpets from his stand in the bazaar in Zanzib. His main worry is the unwanted attention from his father’s first wife’s relations. Abdullah spends his days daydreaming he were a kidnapped prince from a far-away land, destined to marry a princess. All that is nought but a dream, until one day a strange man comes to the bazaar and sells Abdullah a magic flying carpet. When Abdullah falls asleep on top of the carpet one day, he dreams the strangest, most real dream he has ever dreamed…
Review: Network Effect – Martha Wells
Part 5 in the Murderbot Diaries – The Murderbot is hired as security for a Preservation survey. When their ship comes under attack from mysterious raiders that appear infected with alien remnants, the Murderbot is shocked to find that the raiders’ transport appears familiar.
Review: The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller
Patroclos, exiled as a boy to the court of King Peleus, meets Peleus’ son Achilles. Half god and half man, Achilles is so far above his peers that a gulf seems to exist between him and the other boys his age. When Patroclos crosses that gulf, his fate becomes intertwined with that of the god’s son, and the tragedy all readers will know becomes inevitable.
Review: The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. – Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland
When junior academic linguist Dr. Melisande Stokes is recruited by a shady government agency to translate a number of shockingly well-preserved ancient texts, she does not realise that it is the beginning of her involvement with the death and rebirth of magic, quantum mechanics-based time travel, and lots of dangerous adventures in the now and the past.
Review: Prospect – Zeek Earl & Chris Caldwell
Cee and her dad detach from the last ride back to inhabited space for a risky job on the Green Moon that, if successful, will make them wealthy enough to leave their dangerous job on the fringes of human colonisation behind. From the very beginning, the job does not go according to plan, and catching their ride back home on the sling back suddenly seems to become very difficult indeed.
Review: Ik kom hier nog op terug – Rob van Essen
As a kid, young Rob Hollander is fascinated by another boy going door to door alongside his mom with an evangelical message. As an adult, Rob is a journalist who sets out to write a piece on what became of his university class mates. Little does Rob know that his childhood, his time as a student and his present are intertwined in many mysterious ways – which becomes apparent when he meets a man with a time machine.